The Melbourne Vixens' underpinning team, the Victorian Fury will play in front of a Victorian crowd, with Traralgon named as host of the 2021 Australian Netball Championships.
The new-look pathway competition, which replaces the Australian Netball League, will be fought out between state and territory member organisations and Suncorp Super Netball clubs between 11-19 September 2021.
This marks the first year Suncorp Super Netball clubs have been invited to compete in the nation-wide tournament, providing a key transition pathway for athletes to world's best netball league.
Following a competitive tender process, Latrobe City Council in partnership with the Collingwood Magpies were successful in their bid to host the tournament-style event at Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium.
The event aims to bring together all of Australia's emerging netball talent, including athletes, coaches, umpires and officials, for talent identification and development looking toward Suncorp Super Netball and international levels.
Netball Australia Executive General Manager of Performance Stacey West said Latrobe City ticked all the boxes to host the event.
"We were incredibly impressed by the Latrobe City Council's proposal and are delighted to announce Traralgon as host of the inaugural Australian Netball Championships," West said.
"Over 200 athletes, coaches, umpires and officials will be involved in the event, which is a major talent identification and development opportunity for pathway progression.
"We are really excited by the new format of the competition, which will be played as a round-robin style tournament."
The ANC was announced earlier this year, after the 2020 Australian Netball League competition was cancelled due to the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Latrobe City Mayor Sharon Gibson said the region was fast becoming a regional sporting destination.
"Latrobe City is thrilled to facilitate this calibre of sporting event and to offer our community an opportunity to see the superstars of the game shine in our own backyard," Cr Gibson said.
"We are excited to showcase our world-class infrastructure like the new and improved Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium and continue to develop our growing reputation as a regional sporting destination of national significance."
